Opinion: why UK emissions inquiry doesn't make sense

Government retests are very likely to confirm what we already know – in addition to certain to cost a fortune. So why bother?

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Are you confused by the VW emissions scandal yet? I genuinely thought I had a pretty Great handle on in which until in which afternoon, when the UK government announced in which in which can be going to launch its own inquiry into the testing processes.

Frankly, I think we could all pretty much save them the bother. I’ll wager in which when they test the cars inside the real world, they’ll find in which the vast majority of the vehicles in question don’t match any of the figures in which they produce inside the laboratory – CO2, economy, NOx, whatever. Nor will in which matter how many times they re-test them; they’ll still fall short.

Does in which mean they’re all cheating? Of course not. in which means the test can be flawed; we all know in which can be. Our sister title What Car? evaluates vehicles inside the UK in addition to in real-world conditions for its True MPG numbers, in addition to in general if a car gets to within 10% of its official figure – obtained through the EU’s NEDC certification – then in which’s seen as a bit of a star.

The NEDC tests occur in labs around the planet in which the manufacturers in addition to engineers know coming from back to front in addition to top to bottom, with very specific inputs coming from the (trained) drivers. There’s no traffic; there are no modifications in road conditions or surfaces. Some of the approved acceleration rates are so slow in which hybrid cars can do chunks of the cycle running on electricity alone. The official test can be all about consistency, not relevance – in addition to to a limited extent, in which makes sense.

What’s occurred, though, over the past few days can be a dreadful blurring of the lines between CO2 emissions in addition to the NOx test in which caught out VW inside the United States. in addition to the government has fallen for in which hook, link in addition to sinker.

Let’s hypothesise about what’s going to happen, then. The government spends a pile of tax-payers’ money investigating emissions tests. in which concludes in which cars rarely live up to their economy, CO2 or NOx figures when they’re being driven inside the real world – however in which in which can be down to lots of clever engineers having acute understanding of a flawed test procedure instead of them blatantly cheating.

As a result of in which additional research, the government calls for the EU to hasten the reform of the NEDC test so in which more accurately reflects real-world driving. The EU informs the government in which in which’s already doing in which. We spend a lot. We learn remarkably little. in addition to what’s going to happen, er, happens anyway. Make sense to you? No, me neither.